The exciting preliminary program “I Want to Be a Leader” has started in Volga-Dnepr Group offices around the world. Classes for the candidates for the third group of the strategic management reserve training program “Future Leaders of Volga-Dnepr” were conducted in Ulyanovsk, Moscow, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Leipzig and Sharjah in May and June.

Let us recall that the presidential program “Future Leaders” is being implemented by the Corporate University within the strategic project “100 new generation executives to lead the strategy implementation”. It is meant for training of Volga-Dnepr management reserve and gives every employee of our company an opportunity to become a leader

The participants of the first and the second groups of the strategic management reserve were actively engaged into carrying out the preliminary program “I Want to Be a Leader”. Not only do they assess the candidates’ leadership potential, but also try themselves as moderators and trainers.

We asked the participants to share their impressions. These are some of their answers.

Christoph Richartz, MCC Coordinator, AMTES:

– As it was my first Assessment in Volga Dnepr Group I was unsure what to expect, who to work with. The tasks and case studies we worked on in teams of three (together with people I never worked with until that day) pushed us all to leave our usual ways of thinking. We got a rough view of the way we will go now. I am happy and proud that we mastered the first level. I’m looking forward how far I’ll learn to think out of the box! Thanks for the big chance Volga-Dnepr offers to all of their employees.

Кristina Werwein-Wollmann, Leading Specialist in Finance, Accounting and Taxation, Ruslan SALIS:

– This program can be considered as the main instrument for the implementation of our general goal for 2030 “Volga Dnepr is an eternal professional organization, world leader in the air freight industry”. Because this program gives us an opportunity to identify the future superiors, to be able to improve their professional skills and to develop them further. The means for the professional growth of future leaders, higher quality with continuous improvement of the efficiency and work ability of all involved employees.
First, I am very happy to be part of this event. Looking for a solution together with colleagues from different corporate structures and different departments, with different work experiences and looking at the solutions from different perspectives, I consider as valuable benefits in work life.
In this program, we learn from different perspectives how to take responsibility for ourselves and for our teammates. We prepare ourselves to act independently or to take initiative, but also to be tolerant. Further, we learn to respect the opinion of other teammates and to implement it in the chosen decision-making strategy, also to be able to negotiate with colleagues in order to achieve the desired result. As a strength of character, we learn to acknowledge our mistakes, because only when mistakes are known, our results can bring the greatest success. Gaining this experience, taking advantage of one’s own strengths and learning to transform weaknesses into strengths, in my opinion, is an excellent opportunity for positive self-development in work life within the Volga Dnepr Group.

Wael Nabawy, MCC Coordinator, AMTES:

– Participating in the initial stage of this program, has provided me a preliminary overview of the Group’s expectation in relation to the challenging aviation market requirements.
Experience earned, left a personal impression on the impact of teamwork which turned up to be the most useful during the presentation of the program.

Sunny Xin, Accounting and ADM Manager-China:

– During this program, we can widen our vision, improve our mode of thinking and raise management skills after several case study. Meanwhile, we can know more about the company culture,most update developing trend and colleague from the different entities in the global network, obtaining the spark of wisdom.

Sasha Lee, Sales Manager in Seoul, Korea branch:

– There are many wishes, as I participate in the leadership program: First, I would like to be a good understanding of our HQ’s strategy. Sometimes I had difficulty understanding the strategy of HQ. So I want to expand my understanding for the strategy through this program. Furthermore, I hope I will be able to help our company establish the right strategy by providing accurate information of the local situation. Second, I want to have a lot of thinking about correct leadership. As I have been working in the company for six years, the number of Korean station has grown from 3 to 11. It is still not a big organization, but there are a lot of younger employees, so there are many opinions from various perspectives. It has become very important to me to coordinate their opinions efficiently and to lead them in the right direction. I hope that this program will give me a chance to have good leadership. Finally I hope that this program will be a great support to my local sales activities. So I hope my Korean station will continue to make great achievements.
I am very happy to be involved in a good program.

Evgeniy Tereschenkov, Maintenance Director, ABC:

– I remember the atmosphere of the event. I feel that it is implemented in the framework of the Drive for Results concept. I wish all the participants never to rest on their laurels and continuously extend their knowledge, develop competences.

Anna Khousnoutdinova, Specialist Procurement Strategy and Organization, VDM:

– Participation in the preliminary program gave us an opportunity to plunge into management routine for a few hours: real business cases, team building, presentation of work in groups, activity organization under stress conditions.

I was glad to get an instruction from the participant of the second group of “Future Leaders”. You really get positive emotions when see program results, projects implemented by participants. You start to believe in yourself more and understand that everything does depend on us and our eagerness and those who work hard and develop will definitely be recognized.

Thanks to the organizers who enabled us to take part in such an advanced project!

Andrey Prokhorov, Lead Specialist Air Navigation Support, VDA:

– What I liked most is informal and friendly atmosphere and interesting tasks for work in groups. This training session shows that coordinated team work leads to achievement of the most complex objectives. I also enjoyed how Evgeniy Demin told us about his participation in the second group of “Future Leaders”.

Larisa Ryabinova, Head of Payment and Cash Services and Foreign Exchange Control, VDA:

– Certainly, the preliminary program “I Want to Be a Leader” is really useful: the participants gain new experience and additional information on the program from its immediate participants and, of course, communicate with co-workers when they complete objectives.

Elena Akhmetova, Head of International Financial and Management Reporting Standards, VDA:

– The assessment game of the preliminary program “I Want to Be a Leader” was really dynamic and exciting. Great organization, deep involvement of each participant, positive atmosphere left positive emotions. I really liked the cases about the Group.

The first and second group of the “Future Leaders” program also shared their impressions.

Igor Gordeev, Lead Legal Advisor, VDTM; the participant of the second group:

– Participation in assessment of management reserve candidates was quite difficult to me. Not so long ago I myself was under the supervision, and now I take part in decision making regarding new candidates. This is quite a challenging objective, especially taking into consideration the fact that I know most candidates personally and it was not easy to abstract. Meanwhile, I was glad to see excited, inspired people who when solving untypical objectives, showed another side I had not known before. Most people who came to the selection are quite vivid personalities, absolutely talented and demonstrating determination and ability to analyze input and take decisions and objectives rapidly. After I got acquainted with the candidates, my belief in Volga-Dnepr grew stronger because a company is a team, and so long as the team is full of such great people, the company will thrive!

Maria Ermolenko, Director Quality and Ethics, VDA, the participant of the second group:

– I was glad to see that all the candidates managed to accomplish the tasks for work in group, sometimes showed unusual approaches to solving objectives, demonstrated their ability to be persuasive, reason their points of view. I remember that selection to the SMR-2 was held in the atmosphere of more individual competitiveness. This selection differed by more support and teamwork, which is great as well. The candidates have a sense of humor. I advise not to be shy, but advance your ideas, take responsibility, use the training to the full to ensure your personal growth and solve business objectives.

Pavel Kuznetsov, Commercial Director, VD UAC:

– I was lucky to participate in the preliminary program “I Want to Be a Leader” both in the USA and in Russia. In both regions I was surprised by participants’ ambitions and enthusiasm. I can clearly see the makings of future leaders even now. I was happy to realize that our company has such a great talent pool and we definitely apply the right approach to selection of candidates.

I told the participants about my own experience of participation in the SMT-2, about great opportunities for networking, being taught by customers. In the meantime, I tried to raise right expectations, saying that participation in the program would involve hard work and be a challenge. This is why participants should know their ambitions well, understand that this program is not simply training for the sake of training, but responsibility for the future of the company, which we take even more.

The training of the reserve members goes on! This summer training sessions under the preliminary program will be held in the rest of our company’s offices. Keep track of the latest news!